Sep 02, 2021

Curator

Garza

Christopher

Curator, a Seattle-based public relations agency specializing in lifestyle and consumer brands, announced the hiring of two new strategic communication specialists. Jessica Christopher has joined the agency as a senior account executive based in Philadelphia, and Xiamara Garza has joined the firm as a Phoenix-based assistant account executive. In their new roles, Christopher and Garza will be responsible for communication strategies for clients including Ziply Fiber, Washington's Lottery, Skanska USA, Gesa Credit Union and Delta Air Linee. Christopher joins the firm from Allied Global Marketing, a full-service integrated marketing agency working with entertainment, consumer and lifestyle brands. Garza is a recent graduate of Northern Arizona University. Previously, she interned at a national non-profit organization and assisted with their public relations and marketing efforts. Before landing this role, Garza was an intern at Curator.

710 ESPN Seattle

Salk

710 ESPN Seattle, owned by Bonneville Seattle Media Group, announced a new morning show, “The Mike Salk Show,” will begin Sept. 7. In addition, “Jake & Stacy” will expand their weekday show by one hour, with the new broadcast time of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Salk is also co-host of the “Brock & Salk” Podcast with Brock Huard. For the new show, Salk will be joined by executive producer and on-air contributor, Justin Barnes and producer, Maura Dooley.

Urbanova

Kim Zentz, CEO and co-founder of Urbanova, notified the board earlier this year of her desire to move toward semi-retirement while continuing to serve as an executive consultant and board member. Urbanova is evaluating proposals from executive recruitment firms and will launch a national search this month. Zentz's 40-year career spans executive, entrepreneurial and project leadership, including CEO of Innovate Washington and of the Spokane Transit Authority, as well as founding president and COO of Avista Labs (now ReliOn/Plug Power). She is also director of urban innovation for Washington State University and previously served as director of the Engineering and Technology Management online graduate program for WSU's Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. Headquartered in Spokane and incorporated in 2016, Urbanova is an urban innovation partnership focused on driving equitable solutions for midsize cities.

Sep 01, 2021

Washington State Fair Food Drive

Apex Moving & Storage is collecting non-perishable food items for the Puyallup Food Bank at the Washington State Fair's opening day, Friday Sept. 3rd. A donation of a non-perishable food item will allow free access to the fair. Donations will be accepted from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at each of the fair entrances. Apex Moving & Storage has partnered with the national nonprofit organization, Move For Hunger, which mobilizes companies nationwide to provide transportation efforts and host food drives like this, reducing food waste and supporting hunger relief efforts. Since 2015, Apex Moving & Storage has transported over 625,000 lbs. of food to the Puyallup Food Bank and other local organizations. Move For Hunger was founded by Adam Lowy in 2009, at his family's New Jersey-based moving company. Move For Hunger partners with more than 500 moving, relocation and multi-family housing partners, working as a network across the US and Canada to eliminate food waste and support hunger relief.

PEMCO

PEMCO Mutual Insurance appointed Cynthia La Rowe to the organization's executive team as vice president, chief people and brand officer. La Rowe will head human resources, marketing and communications, real estate and facilities and enterprise services. She brings to the role more than 30 years of experience spanning multiple sectors and industries, and expertise in business strategy, people strategy, corporate communications, operations, sales and transformation. Prior to PEMCO, La Rowe established and led sales and client service practices at The Spur Group and Bridge Partners. Before that, she led global people functions for Starbucks and Microsoft.

Banzai

Seattle-based Banzai hired Simon Baumer as chief technology officer. Baumer hails from Germany, where he helped turn Verivox into a leading network of consumer portals as its vice president of engineering. While at Verivox, he led a technology team of over 200 through acquisitions and integration of new technologies. Baumer has over 15 years of direct experience building up engineering teams, creating product management strategies, and integrating acquisition partners as they're grafted onto existing organizations. Banzai is a enterprise SaaS provider of engagement marketing solutions for virtual, in-person, and hybrid events.

Aug 31, 2021

A-Gas

A-Gas, a provider of environmental solutions for the refrigerants and fire protection industries, announced the expansion of its business operations in Seattle. A-Gas has more than 30 locations across the United States, and manages the full life cycle of refrigerants for its partners, including to safely recycle millions of pounds of material each year. A-Gas (U.S.), headquartered in Bowling Green, Ohio, is a trading subsidiary of A-Gas International, headquartered in Bristol, UK.

Symetra

Symetra has been recognized as a top employer in Washington state by two business publications. The Puget Sound Business Journal honored the Bellevue-based life insurer as No. 6 among the top 25 workplaces in the extra-large company category at its 2021 “Washington's Best Workplaces” awards virtual event. In addition, Symetra was named to Forbes' 2021 “America's Best-in-State Employers” list, ranked 24th among the top 60 employers in Washington. The Forbes list is presented by Forbes and Statista, a statistics portal and industry ranking provider. Employers were identified in an independent survey based on a sample of approximately 80,000 Americans working for companies with more than 500 employees. The survey considered several aspects of an employee's experience including working conditions, salary, potential for growth, and diversity. The Business Journal partnered with Quantum Workplace and surveyed thousands of employees throughout the state to quantify the best workplaces. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers.

Hagens Berman

Attorneys at the law firm Hagens Berman announced details of a class-action settlement reached with Apple on behalf of small U.S. iOS app developers. The settlement will result in the creation of a $100 million Small Developer Assistance Fund and changes to App Store policies and practices. The developers' lawsuit was brought against Apple in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Hagens Berman, Sperling & Slater, Saveri & Saveri, and Freed Kanner law firms. According to the lawsuit, Apple monopolized U.S. distribution services for iOS apps and in-app digital products, which resulted in commission overcharges to U.S. iOS developers. The Small Developer Assistance Fund created as part of the settlement will benefit over 99% of U.S. iOS developers, whose proceeds from app and in-app digital product sales through all associated accounts were less than $1 million per calendar year during the period from June 4, 2015 to Apr. 26, 2021. These developers can claim sums from the fund ranging between minimums of $250 to $30,000, based on their historic participation in the App Store ecosystem. More information can be found at the settlement website, http://www.SmallAppDeveloperAssistance.com. Hagens Berman is a class-action law firm founded in Seattle, and operating in 10 cities worldwide.